[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 71 (Friday, June 9, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H4126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   AUSTRALIAN GUN BAN RESULTS: DEADLY

  (Mr. TIAHRT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, according to NewsMax.com, the results from 
the Australian gun ban are in and they are deadly.
  Just over a year ago, Australia followed in the footsteps of mother 
country Great Britain and made a law that totally banned handguns. The 
gun ban and the confiscation program cost the Australian government 
more than $500 million. Sometimes using deadly force, authorities 
collected 640,381 personal firearms.
  Now, the results are in. Since the gun ban, Australia-wide, homicides 
are up 3.2 percent, assaults are up 8.6 percent, armed robberies are up 
44 percent. In the state of Victoria, homicides with firearms are up 
300 percent.
  Figures over the previous 25 years had shown a steady decrease in 
armed robberies with firearms, but since the gun ban this has changed 
for the worse. There has been a dramatic increase in break-ins and 
assaults on the elderly.
  Australian politicians are on the spot and at a loss to explain this, 
and so are the liberals here in America. They want to avoid the facts 
that following a gun ban, crimes go up. If we would enforce the laws 
that we have on the books, it would make America a safer place.

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